Shares of Lucid Motors (NASDAQ:LCID) stock are up by about 15% following an update from the electric vehicle (EV) firm’s global VP and managing director of Middle East operations, Faisal Sultan.
Back in September, the EV maker announced that it had begun the assembly of Lucid Airs in its Advanced Manufacturing Plant, or AMP-2, in King Abdullah Economic City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. AMP-2 is Saudi Arabia’s first-ever vehicle manufacturing facility. During phase one, the plant will be able to assemble 5,000 vehicles per year. Upon a full ramp-up, the plant is expected to be able to produce 155,000 vehicles per year.
To date, AMP-2 has assembled almost 800 vehicles, said Sultan on Wednesday. The figure is low because the company has emphasized training its 200 employees at the plant.
LCID Stock: Lucid Provides Update on Its Advanced Manufacturing Plant
“It (the Saudi factory) is a small operation for us. The reason why we have kept it this way is that we want to take baby steps in our approach of training people,” said Sultan. He also revealed that the plant is currently assembling between 16 and 20 vehicles per day.
The training is getting the employees ready for AMP-2’s complete build unit (CBU), which is expected to begin operations sometime in 2026. A CBU signifies that a plant can manufacture vehicles and the construction of Lucid’s CBU is already underway. Sultan added that the timing of the CBU will depend on the status of supply chains and employee development. Meanwhile, Lucid hopes that its presence in Saudi Arabia will influence its suppliers to set up shop in the Kingdom as well.
The news is helping LCID stock recover from its drop earlier this week when Lucid announced that CFO Sherry House would resign, effective immediately. House will remain with the company in an advisory role until Dec. 31. In the meantime, Vice President of Accounting and Principal Accounting Officer Gagan Dhingra will step up as Lucid’s interim CFO and Principal Financial Officer during the replacement search process.
On top of that, volatility could be on the way for LCID, as it will be removed from the Nasdaq 100 index on Dec. 18.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
